Horsey People

[Brieziel]

I know i'm not the only horsey person... any more of us floating around in the forum?
I know i've found a huge difference in my riding since losing most of my fatty bits..... How's everyone else travelling?

[Pudge]

Yep me too and I have only lost a part of it. I can see a difference in the way my saddle fits me. I will probably have to go to a smaller seat size when I get done with the program.

While driving my buggy in the 4th of July parade I had to jump in and out a few times to get the horse on the right track. I have only driven him a handfull of times so sometimes he doesn't turn too well.(He likes to continue straight when I want to turn.) But it was much easier for me to bail out then climb back in. The step into the buggy is pretty high with me being vertically challenged. (It's about hip high to me)

I still have to use a bucket to get on my young horse (he is 16 + hands tall. But it is easier to cliimb on him. I am also feeling better about myself up there.
Pudge

[asy]

Well, I"m a horsey person too, even if I have no horseys

I wrote a while ago about going riding for the first time in MANY years. It's SO MUCH easier as a skinny person. Also the horse doesn't groan when it sees you coming

Seriously, though, it's amazing what a difference being thin makes.

asy

[Evave]

one of my rewards, for going through with the program, (apart from all the other added benefits) was to start horse riding again
i have forgotten what beautiful creatures horses are.

not only is it wonderful to spend time out in the open air with nature and animals, but it's a good workout for the body too.
and think: if it's easier for us to ride when we're thin.. imagine how the horse must feel :P

so it really is a win-win situation
Evave

[Brieziel]

Yip! my horses definately appreciate it!
i had to get a smaller saddle (i went from an 18.5 inch swinging fender stock saddle - which was HUGE! to a 16.5 inch!) the saddle i had only fitted some horses as it was soooooo long. i had to have a special saddle blanket made so that it was the same length!

I really notice the difference when i am riding fast or in events (like barrell racing, bending, bounce pony - all the really FUN stuff!) my balance is alot better, we can go alot faster, turns are better PLUS i'm less likely to come off and i'm a lot more stable.

Horse riding - especially when you are varying speeds - walk, trot, canter and gallop really tones the body all over and will work just about every muscle group. i have a friend who i take out and we do alot of rise trot up long steep hills.... if you are doing it properly you will REALLY feel it in your tummy muscles - best way to get a flat tummy - and it's fun!

I keep talking to Asy about how we should go riding together (but i've been either a slacker, or other stuff keeps getting in the way - Usually a bit of both!!!) maybe for those that are in brissie, we could organise to all catch up for a horse ride.... Maybe as a reward for reaching a goal?
I know of a few local horse riding centres that are reasonably priced and have great trail riding facilities...

[Brieziel]

Originally Posted by Pudge

The step into the buggy is pretty high with me being vertically challenged. (It's about hip high to me)

I still have to use a bucket to get on my young horse (he is 16 + hands tall. But it is easier to cliimb on him. I am also feeling better about myself up there.
Pudge

WOW a big boy :P !
i used to have a 16-17hh paly mare that was built like a tank (clydie cross quarterhorse cross paint) and she was a mission to get on. once you were up there she was really comfy to ride, but your legs felt like they were in two different states!

[baloo]

Horses and I don't get along.

The first time I was coerced to try a jump by an ex-girlfriend's family and all their horsey mates (ex-Olympian show jumpers and what not), I, to cut a long story short, ended up on the ground in tears. Pommels and testicles shouldn't be placed so close when trying to jump.

And to make it worse, I swear the horse was looking down at me with a smile on his face.

[nonna]

I am also a horsey person and my horse loves the weight loss. My riding has improved out of sight and I noticed recently when I rode my very slight 50kg daughters horse that she kept looking at me wondering just who was on her back !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nonna

[Brieziel]

Originally Posted by Baloo

Horses and I don't get along.

The first time I was coerced to try a jump by an ex-girlfriend's family and all their horsey mates (ex-Olympian show jumpers and what not), I, to cut a long story short, ended up on the ground in tears. Pommels and testicles shouldn't be placed so close when trying to jump.

And to make it worse, I swear the horse was looking down at me with a smile on his face.

They know!
i had a similar experience when i was a kid (although without the pain you had!) i ended up sitting on the jump, facing my horse infront of about 40 people. boy was it humiliating! i got back on, and by hook or by crook, that horse was going over that jump with me on it's back..... then once i had achieved that i got told off for swearing at my horse!

[Pudge]

Daughters horse is a tank so the feeling of legs being on both sides of the state we know about.

Baloo a girl can have the same problem with riding bareback on a high withered horse. Hurts pretty bad when the come to a sudden stop and you land on top of those withers. Maybe not as bad as a guy and his jewels but still hurts.

Brie I seem to ride better with a crowd kinda like too many people out there to see me bite it so have to ride better.

I did smoked my daughter this weekend at a open show. We showed in 3 halter classes together and I beat her big fat halter horse all 3 times. I really have to rub it in when that happens. I did ride my 3 yr. old in a walk-trot class I got beat but the horse that beat me has been rode at least 90 days where mine has maybe 20 inconsistant rides on him. He didn't goober around too bad but I had to keep a fairly snug rein on him since he was worrying about all the action going on. But other than that I was pleased he didn't do anything stupid and bust me in front of everyone.
Pudge

[Brieziel]

Nice work pudge! :P

I have a 20 month old paint quarter horse - he's just a bubba, still growing.
I've been breaking him in slowly as he's still two young and two small for the serious stuff.
However with the work i've done so far he is really well halter broken - can back up, forequarter and hind quarter yield, side pass, self load into the horse float, and will go anywhere you ask him.
The other day i "Tarped" him with a massive blue plastic tarpolin, got him to walk over it, under and around, lunged him with it hanging over his back, and got him to stand in the middle of it ground tied while i wrapped him up like a big present! You can do just about anything with him (So Far!)
i have had the saddle on him a couple of times and he doesn't bat an eyelid, i would have thought that when that girth went up i would get a reaction, but noooooo, he stood, ground tied like an old nag. Oh well. What can i say Prior and Proper Preperation Prevents Piss Poor Performance!

Yesterday i took him for his first outing (led from my mare - who wanted to kill him if he got any further forward than her shoulder!), the poor little fella was absolutely stuffed when we got back!
We encountered many things on our first outing ... Energex where repairing the powerlines, so he had to deal with flashy lights, massive cherry pickers, loads of trucks, traffic controllers with stop/go signs and guys in Fluro Yellow! - can i just add for the record that Energex were UNREAL. they saw us coming and stopped all work and activity that may have freaked out a young horse, they gave us preference to get through a closed road, and made the traffic wait for us!
We also had a large school bus go past us (about 2 and a half feet away!) with kids hanging out the window making barking sounds - the little fella freaked out a bit at that, but was quickly calm again and under control.
All in all a VERY impressive first outing!

[Pudge]

Sounds like your doing a great job with him. Parralli has made his way accross the pond too I see.

We have a class called In Hand Trail. It is pretty fun to go into. My young horse is really pretty good in it. There usually is only a back-thru,straight poles or L shaped, bridge, tarp, box (with poles for the non-horsey people not a cardboard one Baloo) to turn around in (do a 360) cones to weave and poles to cross over. Sounds like your horse would give mine a little competion. I think we have been beat once in it. But he will go over anything with me so it is kinda fun since I don't have to practice everything all the time. Put him in the class Sun. Hadn't even did that class since last Sept. and just walked him over the bridge a few days before that. He walked over the bridge and tarp like a pro.
this guy is so smart I have to continually do different things with him or he events things to do.

I plan for him to be my amatuar select horse once he is fully trained. Because he is so big (16-1 1/2 in the hips so is still growing) the daughter thinks she will do hunt seat on him. But he likes to go slow. His sire is a aqha champion western pleasure horse and his grandsire as well so it is in his blood to do the pleasure thing and not the hunt seat.
Once things settle down after the sons wedding I hope to be able to get more time on him. But am taking it slow since he still has somewhate of a gap in his knee's. Like my paint horse I want to be able to ride him still when he is 10. Not cripple or sour him because he was pushed to hard as a youngster.

As you can tell I can get pretty gabby when it comes to the horses. I REALLY like my horses or any horses for that matter.
Pudge

[Brieziel]

I love my horses too, (Obviously!)
We have Pirelli over here, but also "Australian Natural Horsemanship" Monty roberts, etc etc. Pirelli is a bit to commercalised for my liking, most of the stuff i do is common sense!
I used to run a horse riding centre and have worked with many problem horses, so you tend to go the "Natural horseman" way without any formal training (although i am level 2-3 in Natural Horsemanship) It's all just different levels of training. and you find what works for you....
I had a really messed up horse (Jasper - the Buckskin in one of my before photo's) who was 15yr when i brought him and "green broke" he was an absolute mess, skinny, and totally terrified. you couldn't touch him past his neck without him shitting himself. He had had a few rides as a youngster (not very good rides either from his reactions!), and then had run wild the rest of his life. i worked with him on the ground for about 6 months before i got on him. Everyday, finding new ways to challenge him, get him thinking and trusting me. It was a mission, but it paid off. Although sometimes he still had the head problems - things that weren't scary at all and had never bothered him, would suddenly be the scariest thing in the world. it was like he'd take his brain out for a second! (however when he was being worked everyday he was like a begginners pony!) He also was very particular about who he let near him, and would only allow me or one particular person to go near his feet - i could sit on a milk crate in the middle of the paddock surrounded by other horses and trim his feet - no halter nothing!
I only rode him in a halter, and he was soooo soft and had the most AMAZING head carriage. an absolute stunner. i had him for 4 years. Unfortunately i couldn't leav him in the paddock for more than a week without work, he was really needy and would get his nose out of joint if i did anything with another horse. It was funny he would'nt eat unless i said it was o.k. You could cut him loose in a crowded place and he would follow me like a dog. or i could place him somewhere and tell him to stay and he wouldn't move. just watch me wherever i went. I eventually sold him because i just didn't have the time to keep him occupied and it was starting to do his head in. (and mine!) It was the hardest thing i ever did.

Picasso (the baby) has a similar personality to Jasper, without the head problems, so i have really high hopes for him. He has bonded already, and will do things in the round yard that remind me so much of jasper. for example the second time in the round yard i had him in a canter, and asked him to come in by moving my shoulders and changing my body position, as soon as i changed my body he stopped, spun in towards me and came straight in. Which usually takes alot of traing to get so responsive and in tune with a humans body language.

I don't know if we have an "In hand trail" class - we would do really really well at it though!
There is a "Trail Class" at the Oldies fun days, which involves tarps, backing through things etc but it is all ridden, so it is no good to me at the moment.
I'll keep looking!

[Pudge]

Am glad to hear someone else echo my sentiments on the common sense. When Parelli first started I said then it was common sense and what he was doing I had been for years. Had I thought about it going all hog wild I would have started doing the clinic's and such. Dang I could have made lots of $$$$.

Oh well and as like you I always seemed to get the problem horses. Since I could get them riding in 30 days. Most people just didn't have the money for 3 to 6 months or more of training. So I got them for the 30 and sometimes 60. As long as the owner took them home and continued on with them they did great but if they threw them out in pasture for 3 months some of the wilder ones it took a week or better to get back to where I left them.

I have had horses that the owners took home that I put 30 days on them bring them back a year or so later. Some I had to spend a couple of days on the ground the others I pulled them out of the trailer and jumped on bareback. The owners usually about had the big one not believing I could do that.
But it is common sense training and getting there trust.
Chatted with asy yesterday on the phone. We are planning a trip to OZ within the next 2 years. So we will all have to get together.
Pudge

[Brieziel]

Definately!

[cath15]

We have 3 horses. My horse is an Australian Stock Horse. He's 16.1-16.2hh and palomino. My older son's horse is a chunky black part welsh pony 12.2hh and a real dominant handful. Not scared of anything. People are just another toy. My younger son has a finely built palouse chestnut fewspot about 12.1hh.

We all do Parelli. I'm nearing the end of level 2, older son is just starting L2 and younger is mid way in L1. I've met the Parelli's several times at tour stops here and in the USA - Pat showed me his powered parachutes at Pagosa earlier this year. Flying and horses - great mix.

While there is a lot of commercialisation, they are wonderful, down to earth people and why shouldn't they make good out of being top in their field. Their home study packs have revolutionised horsemanship and made it reachable to everyone.

I've been riding for almost 30 years. I used to be a show jumping rider and ride 6-8 horses I'd never met before in junior showjumping comps for people - I was a bit fearless then. I also used to "help people out", retraining pacers etc. Kids are naturally natural

I mentioned in another thread that I'd been through some marriage problems. Applying the parelli principles is what has kept my marriage together. They apply to all aspects of life, and I intend to apply them to this weight loss journey.

[asy]

Parelli fascinates me, the whole idea of 'natural horsemanship' etc is fantastic.

I just can't wait till we get our horses. We're pretty much ready, just a small bit of fencing to tidy up, but if a horse came along we'd pounce on it.

Andy's down the farm full time, so he can look after it during the week, and we'll go down on weekends to ride and make sure everything's Ok. Until we move, which hopefully won't be long.

Cath, how's about some photos of your horses?

asy

[cath15]

OK

My horse Jeune and I at the local riding club show last year

My older son and his pony Jack

My both boys and the younger son's pony Shelley

Pat and the boys in Sydney in March this year

[asy]

Great photos! Thanks!! Pat looks like a happy sort...

Love the horses, they look sweet.

How old are your boys?

asy

[Pudge]

Nice palomino the others are cute too but I am partcial to yellow.

Looks like Pat needs Cohen's he has packed on a few pounds in the last few years. Guess he isn't doing as much as he used too. I remmber when he looked dang nice in those wranglers. Especially from the backside. Oh ya.
Pudge